Thicker Than Water
by Venomousdeers
Summary: A summer full of chances. First chance at love, second chance at friendship, but only Aria's last chance with family. As she watches her father's clock tick away with every slowing breath he takes, how will she spend the time they have left?
1. Chapter 1

**This is the first chapter of my multi-chapter I've been planning since just about the beginning of Hell Bound. The plot really has a lot of sentimental value because I've been in this position before but under different circumstances. I hope you guys like it as much as I do.**

It's funny the way things happen. They way things just happen to turn out for the better or worse. I realized at a tender age that the world is a bitch, nothing less than that. I realize that the world just doesn't stop so you can sit there and wonder why the things that happen did. It keeps going, whether you damn like it or not. The world keeps spinning and people keep living and dying. It doesn't give you reasons why those horrible things happen or gives you consolation when you land back at rock bottom. The age I learned that wasn't exactly the age that anyone would want that sort of outlook at life

Frankly, I didn't like the way my deck of cards were dealt, but it wasn't like I had a say in the matter anyways.

I didn't know how I found myself back in the small town of Lake Cheyenne, Connecticut, the town I swore to myself five years ago I would never return to. I don't know how I found myself bent over in the drivers seat of my car, my head resting on the steering wheel at eight in the morning, waiting for my brother to get in so we could start this summer which was certain to be horrendous.

He just had to bring all of his lacrosse equipment and play Tetris with my trunk as he tried unsuccessfully to fit everything in the small car. From the rear view mirror I could see his puzzled face as he moved his hockey sticks back and forth while trying to stuff his overly sized bag in the back. Finally, when everything was figured out and I was nearly as aggravated as a nest of disturbed hornets, Mike got into the car with a triumphant smile. I just forced the key into the ignition and headed for the highway, trying to calm myself down with the spectrum of emotions piled in me.

"Blue car says I buy the pizza for dinner, red car says you do." Mike said from the passenger seat, though his voice didn't have the usual challenging tone to it like he used to when he made a deal like that. We were halfway to the house, at least that's what I thought from what appeared on my GPS. I was just thankful that Mike had his phone to distract him otherwise he'd try to start unnecessary conversations that would further drive me up the wall. But that was the way things were done between me and him. From the tender ages of eight and six, we had devised a solution for all our bickers in the car. If a blue vehicle passed us next, the battle was in my favor. A red car meant it was in Mike's.

From the corner of my eye, I could see his face falling. He was no longer entranced in whatever game he happened to be playing on his cell.

"Who says were getting pizza? Isn't mom making dinner when we get there?" My eyes quickly dart to the electronic clock in my car, as expected, it was only around ten. Why my brother was thinking about dinner in the midst of all out families troubles was beyond me.

"Mom and Dad had to stop at the oncologist for his last checkup with him before they leave because." He stopped. "You know." The words violently stabbed into my heart as mercilessly they did all the five years ago we received the horrible news in the very town we were heading to. I knew if people in the town found out, it would Rosewood all over again. The only reason I had for being thankful that we were on a 'vacation' was that I'd be away from all the pity stares I got back in my home town. Just about everyone who wasn't living under a rock knew my dad had cancer. I started to get special treatments from teachers and adults who just felt bad for me, I was sick of it. Extra points on tests and pushed back due dates just for me was great and all seeing all the pain and stress I was being put through with my family. But I didn't _need _it. I was thankful I had things to distract me from these horrible thoughts that clouded my mind.

_His last_. It was basically my dad's last everything this summer. The last vacation with his family, his last time swimming in a pool or in the lake by the house. It was said all the time by almost everyone and I was sick of it. His last this and his last that, I got it. I knew it was only a few months till he'd be taking his last _breath._

"Yeah, I know." I said, possibly more harshly than I intended. Mike sighed as a blue car zoomed by in a obvious rush in the opposite lane. But it was apparent that the cost of a pizza for two wasn't the thing Mike was upset about.

Driving into Lake Cheyenne was just the first of many nostalgic pangs I'd be feeling throughout the day. The large green sign that read _Welcome To Lake Cheyenne_ looked as new and shiny as it did the last time we drove past it all those years ago. The whole town looked as if nothing had ever changed, maybe except a few shops here and there but it the whole thing was a strange replica of the place I used to call home before five summers ago, the worst summer I could ever recall.

I was surprised that I still knew the roads here like I knew the back of my hand. The town was small, I'd give it that. It was small enough that everyone could know everyone and probably did. But as I stepped out of my car, my already worn down flip flops hitting the driveway ground, the place suddenly felt alien. The house looked like it came out of our family photos that we would take in front of it every year. It looked exactly like it did before, the yellow walls and wooden porch. The milk white shingles that hung from the windows. The dark green door with the all too happy welcome sign hanging off of it. It was a wonder that the renters who used this house never changed any of it.

"I got your bag, Aria. You just bring the other stuff." Mike called out, stuffing both of our travel bags underneath his muscular arms and hiking up the wooden stairs to the house. He seemed to be as shocked to be here as I was. Only he was better at hiding it. He almost seemed excited to be here.

A few steps back took me to the trunk of my car, where I piled all the rest of my bags into my arms and shut the trunk with a light slam. The last thing I'd want to do was alert people that we were back in town. This was a town where everyone knew everyone else. It wasn't like a Rosewood though, where everyone was is everyone else's business. This town was full of such caring and nice people, it's just that one aspect that made me sick.

"What do you think?" Mike asked, stretching out his arms and swirling around the room like he had never seen the interior of the place. "Looks like nothing ever changed. I thought for sure all of this furniture would be gone." I watched him with a half smile as his body collapsed into the cream colored couch and his hand patted around blindly for the television remote.

"Didn't workers come back here and refurnish everything before we got here?" I said, crossing my arms and chucking as Mike tried to remember.

"Maybe, I don't know."

Shaking my head, I turned around and headed for the large stairs that led to where me and Mike's bedrooms were. As I was walking up, I observed all the picture frames that remained with us in them. One especially caught my eye, and made me want to throw it into the ancient fire place in the living room.

There, sitting on the wall in its ocean blue frame, in all it's glory, was a photo of me and my dear old friend, Alison. We haven't spoken since I left and I never intend to again. She was basically my best friend from ages seven to thirteen but she was probably long gone from here anyway. The cringe worthy picture was of us, our arms draped around each others backs, with dripping red popsicle stains on our lips. We looked around nine. A few years after we first met. But the picture looked as though we knew each other from birth. Now I felt like I couldn't even remember her last name.

It took me all the more courage to walk into my room. I was quite honestly surprised that the previous renters of the house hadn't changed it up all that much. The walls were still painted a pastel purple color that I now detested. The slanted ceiling was still covered with the posters of Leonardo DiCaprio and Justin Timberlake that Alison used to rip out of trashy magazines we got from the 7-11 down the road and paste on my walls.

As I opened the closet, ready to stuff all of my summer clothes in, I noticed a tattered copy of To Kill A Mockingbird laying on the ground. I could feel my heart lurch as I picked the book up as if it were radioactive and flipped the cover. Inside the book, in clean script, read _'property of Ezra Fitzgerald'_. It stung that I could still remember clearly the night Ezra had given it to me as a small present. It had been the first time I was in his bedroom, nothing sexual had happened from the fact that we were eleven and fourteen. I knew he had spied me flipping through the novel and reading a few pages. The next time I had saw him, he had messily wrapped it in Christmas themed paper and gave it to me on the Fourth of July. It was kinda cheesy, but as a naive eleven year old who pined for a guy she couldn't have, I thought it was cute.

It was strange for me to think that Ezra would be 20 now. I couldn't help but wonder if he still had that one curl in his hair that never left his forehead, or if he even had his curly hair anymore. He would be a man now, and in college. I doubted he would be here anymore. He was probably attending some large, prestigious university thanks to his mother's large checkbook and his magnificent brain. It was no surprise to anyone that the Fitzgerald's stayed in one of the largest houses in the entire tiny town. It was still lost on me as to why a woman as high end and wealthy as Dianne Fitzgerald would want to buy a lake house in Lake Cheyenne as opposed to Long Island or Ocean City. But from the ages ten to thirteen, I surely wasn't complaining.

Huffing, I shoved the book deeper into the closet and began stuffing my shirts and shorts into the closet and shutting it with a loud slam to relieve some of the anger inside of me. It was honestly torturous enough to even think that I'd have to spend two and a half months in this town. I had no idea how I was expected to last a whole summer in this dreadful town. How was I supposed to survive in this house that held almost as many bad memories as good ones. How was I supposed to contain myself when my mother and father came in the next day? My poor, deeply depressed mother and my terminal father. My father who didn't even have five more months to live.

**Well, there it is. I hope you liked it and please review! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

From the outside, he didn't look so bad. He didn't look like he was crippled and burdened with the improbable amounts of cancerous cells in his body and the dreaded clock that counted down the very seconds until his death. He still had same toothy smile every time someone said something worth smiling for, or even if it was not worth it. He had the same slightly graying hair he always had as long as I could remember that was always styled the same way. But on the inside, everything was wrong. He was still completely, utterly, irreversibly terminal.

I had always repeated the kind of cancer he initially had in my head. It was ingrained into my mind. The moment I heard it's name I raced to my computer to learn everything I could possibly absorb from the help the internet contained, thinking that the contents of my computer held more help than any doctor. Melanoma. I didn't even know what it was at first. I didn't even know what part of the body it affected when I first heard it's name.

My mother had told me that the doctors had taken out about fifteen lymph nodes from my dad's underarm for studying once they found the dark, raised patch on my dad's skin that was a dead give away. All of them came back cancerous. Each and every one of them. Secretly, I could remember my mother telling me not to keep up much hope that he would get better. She had told me that the odds were not looking so good for him.

She had said the kind of cancer he had was the most dangerous form of skin cancer. The disease was all over his body by the time that they were able to diagnose him. Bawling was the only thing I could think of doing after that. She told me not to tell Mike anything she had told me. The poor kid was only eleven, he didn't understand much about the situation except that daddy was sick. But the hope she had told me to throw away was the only thing I could grasp onto at that point. I didn't know at that age it would end up like this and I'd have to keep a strong front for my dad.

After a while, I knew everything they were doing was only to prolong his inexorable death. He wasn't going to get better. He didn't even improve after years of the doctors having plans and working on his body. After a while they had to give up. There was nothing left they could try. So they gave him an estimate of how long he had left after his three year long battle. I knew that he just had to go on his own time. But I took those few years they told him he had for granted, now he was getting worse and we all knew he didn't have a lot of time left.

Byron and Ella arrived at our lovely abode late the next morning. I was barely awake but felt like collapsing on the floor once again once I saw him walk into the room. It was torturous to think that one day, the last time I will see him will be when they will be lowering his body six feet down into the ground. The only part left I'll have to look at of him will be the small plaque with his name and a few dates engraved on it. But I hugged him nonetheless once he walked in, smiling and all.

"Hi there, Pookie Bear," my dad said as he patted my back. I smiled grimly at the old nickname he would call me as a child. I knew I was still a child in his eyes, especially now, but it only brought me back to remembering a time when he wasn't hurting so badly.

"Hey, dad." I croaked. I hoped I didn't sound like I was about to cry. Maybe he'd think I just woke up because, well, I had just woken up. The last thing I wanted to do was worry him with my tears. We should be worrying about him anyway, he was dying for damn sake.

"Your mom and I got bagels." He said, holding up the brown paper bag he had in his hands proudly. "Michelangelo, I got you taylor ham and egg." He yelled with all his power to alert Mike upstairs. Nowadays, he was calling Mike by his full name, which annoyed him but it wasn't like the kid could say anything.

Mike came bounding down the stairs and lightly hugged my dad before digging around the paper bag for his breakfast. The kid nearly ate the silver wrapping around the sandwich he was in such a rush.

"And for you, darling, a salt bagel with butter. Did I get that right?" He asked, handing me the wrapped bagel.

"Yes, dad." I said, hugging him once again. I couldn't get enough of hugging him. For the second I would be in his arms, I would think that maybe everything would be okay. But I knew deep down that I was only trying to make myself feel better. I knew in a few months, those arms wouldn't be there to hug me anymore. They wouldn't be there shake the hand of the guy taking me to my senior prom, beat up any guy when he broke my heart, or walk me down the aisle when I did find my the man of my dreams. I tried not to dwell on it too much, but it was pretty hard not to.

When I finally felt my feelings were getting the best of me, I decided to take it outside. I walked down the small grassy hill to the dock in my back yard where me and Alison used to sit, sipping sodas in our bikinis and daring each other to jump into the river first. How much I missed her at that moment didn't amount to how much I knew she'd be grilling me on why I left the moment she saw me. But like Ezra, she was probably long gone. She was probably out there somewhere, probably more beautiful than how I remember in photos. We were both seventeen now, it was strange to think that, but we were.

I had finished the bagel fairly quickly. Probably an outcome of stress eating and the fact I was subconsciously picking off large pieces of the bagel while thinking about my old friends. Who were probably much more successful and happy than I was now.

I stared into the slowly moving water of the wide river which lead to the even larger lake a few blocks over. I was glad my house was within short walking distance of the beach. Sneaking there in the middle of the night and watching the moonlight reflect against the slowly beating water was once of my best memories. The memories I had made with my two best friends at the time made a close second.

The side of my head leaned against the salty smelling wood pole beside me. My feet dangled off the edge of the dock and barely grazed the water below it. The cool air blew across my bare legs which were only covered up to mid thigh. I hugged my dad's large button up shirt that I worn to bed last night closer to me because of the cold that now attempted to cease the warmth I had. I was surrounded by things that seemed so familiar and so natural to me. The sounds of the early birds chirping and the sluggish rushing of the water were just a few things that managed to transport me to a time where I wasn't burdened with all of this stress and depression.

Once sound I wasn't expecting was the sound of heavy footsteps against the dock behind me. I just assumed it was Mike attempting to push me into the river or scare me. He had always been one to do that as a little boy. "Go away, Mike." I said sternly. The footsteps abruptly stopped and I assumed he was caught off guard.

"What if it's not Mike?" A smooth voice spoke. The voice was glazed in testosterone and a certain quality that just made you want to fall in love with it. I had heard it somewhere before, or at least I think I had. Honestly I was too scared to look at who it was. It was definitely not Mike.

But I did look behind me. And I got why the saying was "curiosity killed the cat" cause at that moment, I felt like dying from sheer shock at who was really standing before me.

Standing tall, probably towering far above my short five-two stature, was Ezra Fitzgerald.

He looked pretty shocked too, considering the last time he saw me, I was even shorter and more pimply. "Aria," he said. It wasn't phrased like as though he was asking if it was really me. He knew damn well it was me and he didn't seem too happy about it. I stood up to meet his gaze but it didn't really help the situation. He was like the Jolly Green Giant compared to me, only not so jolly.

The first thing I took notice of besides his unamused expression was his body. It was like the years I wasn't present had pushed him into visiting a gym, more than once. The Ezra I was looking at now was definitely not the wimpy, stick like Ezra Fitzgerald I knew a few years ago. He had surely grown since I'd last seen him. He was only about three or four inches taller than me when we last saw each other He had abs now, not something I imagined the bookworm of a kid he was having. They weren't washboard-like ones, but they were sure something. He was holding a kayak under one arm and a paddle with the other. From the looks of it, he probably want to whack me with those oars.

"What are you doing back?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. It was then that I realized I was only wearing a black bra underneath the button up shirt that didn't even have one button that was buttoned up. My dark blue sleep shorts that only came up to the middle of my thigh didn't help either.

He snorted as if I was telling a really bad pun, and even smiled a bit. Damn puberty for making him so damn attractive now. I mean, he was attractive at fifteen, but now...

"Is that a joke, Montgomery? Because that's what I should be asking you. Seeing that you left for five years without saying a word to me or Alison." He spat. His eyes couldn't help but explore my now grown in body. I wasn't the puny, flat chested preteen anymore. And the fact that I was wearing a black bra and practically next to nothing else would attract the horny male population.

"My eyes are up here, Fitzgerald." I growled, matching the vigor he had in his voice with my own. He tore his eyes from my boobs and looked up, swallowing sheepishly. His striking blue met my boring hazel and we stayed like that for a few moments. I knew that the only thing separating me from my house was him. And the only way I could get past him was to get closer to him. That didn't look like much of an option seeing his very defensive state.

"If you must know, I'm back from college and I decided to come down here with Wes. It's been a while." He said. Wesley, Ezra's younger brother. I remembered him easily. He used have a crush on me that Ezra would tease him about constantly. I remember Mrs. Fitzgerald yelling at Wesley when he had tore a few flowers from her garden and gave them to me as a gift. I had given him a kiss on the cheek as a return and his face was lit up as though he was a poor man who won the lottery.

He would be fifteen now, Mike's age. The two used to be best friends once me and Ezra became friends, but I assumed he wouldn't be too happy to see me either.

I stayed silent, just nodding in response. Soon, he kept his eye contact with me but stepped closer. I had thought he was going to pummel me for some reason but I was wrong. He threw the kayak into the river and jumped in after it, disturbing the calm water and causing it to ripple under the weight of him. Without another word, he paddled down the slowly moving river and towards wherever he planned to go.

I watched as he rowed down the river before going back inside the house, where Mike was.

"Was that Ezra?" Mike asked, tearing his eyes away from his phone.

I didn't answer him. I didn't want to talk about Ezra. I didn't want to talk about Dad. I didn't want to be in this goddamned house. Why did Ezra have to be here this summer? He wasn't helping anything by being in this town. I knew that it was inevitable that I'd be seeing him again. His large house was only a few houses down from mine. Why did everything have to be going exactly the opposite of how I hoped? This summer started out bad enough.

Collapsing back on my bed, I covered my makeup-less face with my hands and was tempted to scream into them. I just wanted to rip out my hair in sudden frustration towards everything. All of the pent up anger I just had building up inside of me just seemed to grow larger and larger with each horrible thing that occurred. And just like everything that was unstable or without something to hold it steady, it was going to fall, and I was going to break.

**Wow, this chapter is one of the many that are going to hit me in the feelings. I gave Byron the kind of cancer that my uncle had because I felt I had a very personal way to write how Aria was feeling based on how I was feeling at the time because it was so recent that it happened. Well, you guys met Ezra (oooooooohh) and he's not very excited that Aria's back in town. I hope you liked this chapter as much as I did and don't forget to review! **


	3. Chapter 3

I decided that it would be a good idea to spend some time with my father. I mean, the past few days we spent here I was stewing in anger over everything that was going on. Now they days we had left were wasting away.

The two of us always did bond over small things like old rock music and books. He would pretend to be interested when I talked about photography, but I knew he was just being polite. I had taken up photography at the age of twelve and it sorta just stuck. My dad had purchased my first professional camera when I was fourteen. That was the age in my life when I learned to cherish everything I had because of the money trouble in my household. Medical bills were piling up as the days went by and medical insurance wasn't enough to pay it off; money became very tight over the years. That was why we rented out the house. But I carried that damn camera everywhere, taking pictures of things that I thought deemed worthy of taking up memory. My dad described the device as my fifth limb because of how it was always around my neck.

So I sat on the old cream coloured couch in our living room, Julius Caesar in my hands. Spending time with him didn't exactly seem like an option at the moment seeing that my dad was busy with typing something. Papers were strewn around his lap and piled on the arm rests of the chair he was in and I couldn't help but wonder what he was up to.

Mike was seated next to me, his eyes closed and his head bobbing methodically to whatever sort of song he was listening to. I could faintly hear it from where I sitting but I tried to ignore how much it was bugging me. I was surprised the kid could even sit there without barely moving for ten seconds. He was constantly running on a ten and I've almost never seen him not doing an activity that didn't involve exerting energy. It was a wonder that he wasn't currently bursting at the seams.

"What are you working on, Dad?" I asked, finally getting tired of reading the sames few lines of the book after I realized I had no idea where I was in the book. He didn't even look up from the screen as he responded.

"Oh, just a project." he responded monotonously, continuing to fill the room with the noise of his fingers tapping rapidly on the keys of his computer. I was unsatisfied in not getting a conversation in and folded the book against my thigh.

"What kind of project?" I questioned again. My dad just sighed and licked his lips, still not tearing his eyes away from the screen for even a second and taking a sip of his coffee.

"Just a project, Aria." Hearing his bored and now slightly agitated voice, I dropped the subject and tried, though unsuccessfully to read the book again. I tried to imagine what it was he was so engrossed in but I came up blank. The dean at his college wouldn't be a strict as to give a dying man an extensive project over the summer, right?

The one thing that could assure me about this summer was that my father would go happy. At least I think he would. He always loved his job with a burning passion. He had a healthy, happy family that even though he'd be leaving behind, love him nonetheless. But he didn't regret a thing. Everything that happened to him was out of his control but he was calmed by the fact that the years that he did live were good ones, and I was thankful for that as well.

My mother came through the door moments later with bags of groceries piled in her arms and a look that she was determined to take them all in one trip. This was the one thing that made my dad finally look up from his computer. I was almost sure that not even a Godzilla attack would ruin his concentration from the amount of focus he displayed.

"Oh, Ella." My father sighed and attempted to get up from his chair. As he did, he winced and groaned, startling all of us a bit. He ignored our expressions and relieved my mom of a few bags. hoisting them into his arms and walking to the kitchen. She looked lightly shocked at the frailty at which my father now had. Just getting up from the chair caused him pain. We had been living with him like this for a long time but it wasn't something you ever really got used to.

Once he was content and back in his chair, working hard. My mom spoke up, she looked suddenly joyful at whatever it was she was speaking about.

"You won't believe who I ran into while on my way to the store, Aria." I sighed and looked up at her,dog earring the book in my lap. At least the conversation was a bit more interesting than the book.

"Wesley Fitzgerald! He said that he and Ezra are in town for the whole summer. He looks so grown up nowadays." Her hands clapped together and she smiled hopefully at me and Mike. I wore a faux grin on my face for my mother while Mike on the other hand was just about to rocket off of the couch to see his long time buddy again. "Maybe you should see if Ezra is around, Aria. I know you two used to be good friends."

"Yeah, maybe." I said meekly. I didn't want to upset my mother or my father. I knew my mother only wore this upbeat facade to not worry my father. She was just as on end and as stressed out as I was. I could hear her choked sobs from time to time when my father was not around. To feel what she was feeling at the moment was unimaginable. While I was loosing my father; the man who I looked up to and was always there for me since my birth. She was loosing her husband, her soul mate. The man she swore to stay with until the inevitability of death tore them apart. Of course, the grim reaper had to be a cheeky bastard and take him away far too quickly.

Sometimes I wished that he had already left. Not because I don't want him here anymore, I'd do anything to keep him here with me for as long as possible. But because I knew these few months he would be struggling to live, he would be enduring the pain of death and only slipping through our fingers like sand more each day. We would be forced to see him everyday in a state in which he probably hoped we would never have to see him.

While Mike bounded off to find Wesley, I was still stuck reading the same three lines of Julius Caesar over and over, hoping something would happen and magically make this interesting. I wanted desperately to do something with my father, anything. Listen to Led Zeppelin, let him beat me in chess, play Gin Rummy like we used to. But he stayed in his leather chair, viciously typing at his computer keyboard as if his life depended on it. I didn't want to let this summer slip through my fingers. I didn't want the last two or three months I had with my father wasted. I didn't want to look back when he was already gone and think, damn, why did I never do anything with him?

"You haven't turned a page in a while, kiddo. I thought you already read that book." My father croaked humorously, his voice stale but still upbeat from lack of use and probably his cancer ridden lungs. I didn't know exactly where the cancer was in his body, just that it attacked a lot of his important organs. It was eating away at him slowly like a bunch of termites working at a broken down tree.

"I did, it's just the only required book I remembered to pack." I bit the inside of my cheek as I peered up at him and saw him looking up from his bright screen. The reflection of the computer flashed off of the frames of his glasses and I could see a large typed up document pulled on in them. I just couldn't fathom what kind of project he had to be doing at this time. Also in the reflection of his glasses were his dark hazel eyes that stared inquisitively back at me.

"Haven't you read all of the books on that list?" He asked again, a slight chuckle in his voice.

"Maybe."

"Then why are you reading them again?"

I didn't answer. I didn't really have a legit answer that wouldn't make me a liar. I liked the books on the list, I really did. But reading during this particular summer didn't seem like something I would be able to do. My dad sighed and closed his laptop. He rubbed his tired eyes once he took off his glasses and laid them on the coffee table.

"What's really going on, Aria?" The answer was simple, I just wanted to spend some time with him. But it wouldn't come out. It was like the words were stuck on my tongue and refused to get off. I just needed the father daughter bonding I've been yearning for since we found out about his disease. He'd been bed ridden since he left the hospital thanks to my stress ball of a mother and we've never been able to do anything together.

"Nothing. I just thought that-"

"You should go enjoy your summer. Don't be cooped up in the house with me, it's no fun. Go find Ezra or maybe get a summer job." He said, tossing his hands elaborately as he spoke.

"Go, Aria. Please." He begged. I fought back a sigh and stood up silently, disregarding whatever page I was in my book. The glass door swung open and I held it with my foot as the wooden door was pushed aside. I didn't exactly know where I was going, just somewhere.

I pushed on my sunglasses and walked down the streets of the town. Everything was just how I remembered it. The town was a little bit bigger than a square mile but not by much. The hot July sun beat down on me and made me wish I remembered to apply sunscreen before I went out of the house. I'd probably come back a lobster and with my mother ready to kill me since the skin cancer being caused mostly by UV rays and her being so anal about us applying it.

I stopped at a mini strip mall down a few blocks from my house. One I would always walk to with Alison and get ice cream or where I'd look at books at Seymour's while she patiently waited for me in the homemade jewelry shop. I was just about to walk into Seymour's when I spotted a face behind the counter. A handsome face that only belonged to Ezra. He didn't seem to notice me staring a few feet from the window and I prayed he wouldn't notice as I left.

I couldn't just waltz in there and idly stare at books while he watched me with his hawk eyes. The thought just made shivers run down my spine. So I just left, muttering foul words as I thought of another place to go to.

Seymour's was sort of a relaxation place for me. There was actually a guy who ran the store named Seymour, an old salt and pepper haired man who always just let me sit in the dark blue beanbag chair by the checkout stand and let me read books whenever. He had a dog and a cat who lived there too, I doubted they were alive now but they'd always watch over the store, meowing or whimpering happily as someone came in. I always told Seymour I'd work for him when I was older, he'd just laughed and say he couldn't wait to have me in the store longer. But now I didn't think I could work there now that Ezra had took that position.

Going back home would be a bad idea. My dad would probably tell me to go back out like Mike. He didn't want us wasting away like he would be this summer. He wanted us to have fun while we still could, cause after he was gone, I didn't think I'd know how. So I braced myself, and walked where I didn't thi

I walked by Alison's house, which was in the the street behind my house. I could easily cross the river by kayak and get into her back yard. But this year was different, no one was on the street but I felt like a hundred eyes were keeping a close watch on me with each step I took. I heard a shrill sound of laughter coming from her backyard and the sound of water breaking as someone jumped into it. I saw her mother's car as I walked passed the house and knew that she was going to be here this summer. Probably the whole summer and realized I shouldn't walk here any longer, she probably hated me.

But it wasn't just one person laughing, it was two or three more. My heart couldn't help but sink as I realized Alison had probably moved on from me. I knew I didn't want to see her this summer but I couldn't help but just want to paddle across the river and jump into her backyard like old times. I just yearned to walk into her house at breakfast time and sit down at the table like I was part of the family. And I kind of was then. Our families were almost merged. Alison would sleep over my house and we'd go to her house for breakfast and vice versa. We were nearly inseparable until that summer. Up until the summer where everything went wrong.

**I didn't think I was going to update today, but I did! Yay! So, Alison's in town and so is Ezra. How do you think Aria's going to react if she see's Ali face to face? I changed up Ali's character just a tad since A isn't in this story and she doesn't live in Rosewood and just the whole story is AU, I hope that's okay! I hope you liked the chapter and don't forget to review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Wesley and Mike became instant buddies again and were constantly rushing through the house for who knows what. It was strange to say but Wesley had gotten hot over the years, almost looking like Ezra when he was was fifteen. Would it be wrong to say I hated that? Because I did.

He saw me for the first time in years when he and Mike rushed in for sodas my mom had bought from the store. He froze in place the moment his eyes brushed past my figure and I couldn't help but blush. I guess he remembered his little crush on me too by the way his cheeks turned red and how he shoved his hands into his khaki shorts. After a few awkward greetings, he started to talk.

"Why don't you and Ezra ever talk anymore?" He asked, his voice more smoother than when he was ten and it was squeaky and crackly. "Whenever I mention your name he just grunts and leaves the room." He had the same dazzling blue eyes that Ezra had, the ones that just made you want to fall in love with them. I had to will myself not to stare at them and just refocus myself on my camera.

"Things are just a little rough, Wes. Things are different now," I said, flipping through pictures I had already seen to just look like I was busy. Mike called soon after I spoke and set Wesley rushing for the kitchen, not bothering to give a response. I thanked my brother silently for breaking the awkward tension around me and Wesley. I really didn't want to talk about his brother or anything having to do with him. I didn't hate Ezra, not at all. Just being around him didn't seem like the best choice seeing how badly I left things the last time we were around each other.

I didn't even know where Ezra stood in my life. He wasn't my friend, not like he used to. Calling him an acquaintance implied that I didn't know him as well as I actually did. All of his top favorite things were at the tip of my tongue ready to be recited whenever the time came. All the times we spent together were ingrained into my mind. They were just those memories you couldn't forget. I shook my head and put the thought of labels aside. My mind focused back on clearing my camera of the pictures I took at the beach that didn't come out so well. Apparently there were a lot, which made me groan in distaste.

My dad was sleeping down the hall as I had to remind Mike constantly almost everyday. He was starting to wake up late around these times and it got me worried a bit how much sleep he was actually getting. It was a major contrast to my lack thereof and the somewhat dark purple rings that formed under my eyes further proved my point. What if we didn't have as much time as we thought? Would he one day go to sleep and the next day never wake up? I choked back the tightening feeling in my throat and pushed myself to focus on the pictures, deleting the ones that didn't turn out better than the rest.

"Mike," I said lowly, strolling into the kitchen. He was reading the instructions for an oven pizza that I was sure he was going to mess up. I tried to push back the sadness and croaking from my voice as much as possible. "I'm going back to the beach, Mom's out and Dad is still sleeping so keep it quiet and don't burn the place down." I pointed to the meat lovers pizza box he had in his hands and scrunched up my nose at his choice. He waved off my instructions as senseless babbling and continued with his reading. Wes on the other hand, gave a small smile and nodded in response, making me glad someone was around to keep Mike's chaotic behavior in order.

I decided against shoes and walked barefoot down the hot gravel streets. It didn't bother me too much but I was thankful for when my feet finally hit the soft, not as hot sand on the beach. I clutched my camera with one had as I adjusted the straps on my neck. My hands knocked my sunglasses off the top of my head and down to the bridge of my nose and I basked in the cool breeze that hit my body.

I heard laughing, the same sort of laughing I heard coming from the backyard of Alison's house. I froze in place as I saw four girls who were the only ones occupying the small beach.

One of them turned towards me, a tall girl with bronzed skin and long, brunette hair much like mine. She waved politely before turning back to her friends. She stuck out a little from her friend group, being the most tan out of all of them while the others were pale or slightly tanning. I was thankful for my sunglasses as I saw Alison look my way after she saw the other girl wave. I was startled for a minute. Not that she looked drastically different, but she had changed a lot. Her hair was shaded a bit darker than I remembered it being, but she still kept it in beautiful waves like she always did. She didn't seem to notice it was me, but probably assumed I was some strange beach-goer and continued whatever it was she was doing.

Along with Alison were two other girls. One other tall girl with pale ivory skin and brunette hair which was pulled up into a tall ponytail. The girl beside her had short chopped blonde hair with some dark highlights. They all were stunningly beautiful, much like Alison was, with their attractive bodies and toned legs that were showcased in their bikini's. It made me glad that I still had my shorts and tank top on and didn't have to feel too inferior.

I walked over to a corner of the beach. My feet dug into the soft sand and reveled in it for the first time in a while. I took the lens case off of the camera and kneeled down in the sand, getting a good angle. The picture clearly focused on the sunlight hitting off the water and the surrounding small islands that were just a few miles away. A proud smile grew on my face as I admired the photos as well as what I was taking photos of. This lake really did have the best place to take pictures if you searched hard enough. I had always wanted to take a kayak out into the lake and see what I could take pictures of then. But I was too scared that my camera would drop into the lake and never be seen again; even with the neck strap which never seemed to fail me in all my years using it.

What took me by surprise is when I saw Alison making her way towards me, her hips swaying with each step she took.

"Excuse me," she said, I tried not to take my eyes away from my camera until after she spoke. "Do you think you could take some photos of me and my friends?" This took me a bit by surprise. Did my sunglasses to a better job at hiding my face than I thought? Or was it just the fact that she probably hasn't seen me since I was shorter, stick thin and had pink streaks in my hair.

"Um, sure." I responded hesitantly. My fingers made sure the sunglasses stayed high on my nose and I fidgeted with the buttons on the camera as she called her friends over.

"Spencer, Hanna, Emily! Get over here!" She hollered, alerting her friends an sending them running to her like a pack of dogs.

"Come over here." Ali said as she waved me over and made me stand in front of them as they stood in the by the lake, the entire landscape behind them. Their arms were linked over one another's shoulders like in the picture I had of me and Alison hanging by the stairs in my house. My heart tugged a bit at the distant memory that remained just a dusty, framed photo now. They laughed and made silly faces in some photos and changed poses and I couldn't help but smile at seeing Ali have fun with her new friends.

Ali and her companions rushed over once their miniature photo shoot was held and glanced at the small screen to get a look. But I saw from the corner of her eye that it wasn't the photo Alison was looking at after a few seconds. She had her eyes fixed on me. My eyes painstakingly stayed on the screen. It took every last bit of me not to look just a bit to my right.

"Thanks for taking the pictures." I could see her smiling from behind the lenses of my sunglasses. Her friends also mumbled their thanks before retreating back to their laid out towels. Ali placed her hand on my shoulder as she spoke again. "You don't have to hide behind those shades, Aria. It's good to finally have you back." She didn't say another words, leaving me stunned as she strolled back to her own towel, her hips sashaying back and forth as she left. I absolutely had no idea if she was being sarcastic or not.

XxX

"And she just walked away." I concluded, taking a sigh as my father stood to the side of me. He picked at a pecan muffin that my mom had got from the bakery for him.

"Why don't you just talk to her?" He suggested, breaking off a small bit of the pastry and popping it into his mouth. I was too stunned then as she ambled along the sand back to her other friends. Her friends whom were probably better than I.

I fought back the urge to say "things are different". I've been using that as an excuse to explain everything between me and Alison or me and Ezra. "I don't know." My head shook in response and my eyes stuck to my fingers in cowardice as they tapped at the granite counter top.

"You mentioned she had new friends, that could open up opportunities for few friendships." He opened his arms and shrugged, placing his half eaten muffin on the counter behind him.

"Yeah, maybe." My throat felt tight like I was going to cry. My body leaned into my father's, his height towering over mine. My head rested on his chest like I did when I was a little girl, his heart beat was slow and soft. I didn't know if he sensed my sadness or if it was just too apparent from my closed off attitude. But he lifted my chin up and rubbed my back, calming me down.

"Come on, I want to go somewhere with you." He said, smiling his signature smile. I held on to his arm as he led me to his car and opened the door to the passenger seat. Before he got into the car, he alerted Mike who was upstairs with Wes that he was going out.

"Where are we going?" I asked as my dad turned on his Queen playlist an drove down the old roads of the town I wanted to call home.

"I actually don't know." He laughed heartily. "But you seemed sad and I wanted to get you out. I don't like seeing you upset, Aria." My dad answered, gripping the steering wheel roughly as he started to cough. I heard the scratchiness in his voice as he started to speak again, going on about the track list we were listening to as he drove. We pulled into the strip mall where I had walked to the day before and ran into Ezra. Well, he didn't see he thankfully, but I did see him.

"How about some ice cream, kiddo? That always brightened you up as a little girl." My dad smiled nostalgically up at the illuminated sign above the ice cream parlor that read Sundaes in bright red letters. I just nodded and we both walked in and basked in the cold of the shop that greeted us in contrast to the blazing heat outside. I gazed down at the multiple flavored they had to offer while my dad knew exactly what he wanted.

"Never breaking your streak, huh Dad?" I asked as he received his cup of pralines and cream. He smiled and licked off the spoon before scraping the ice cream off the sides, making his way slowly to the middle. He had always gotten that flavor no matter what.

"Why would I? This is the best flavor on the menu." He said with a wink as I held my cup with plain vanilla in my hands. He handed the girl behind the counter a ten and commented for her to keep the change. My dad has always been a generous man in all of his years but I noticed these past few months he had always stop to give whatever spare change he had in his pockets to people on the streets or in tip jars in restaurants and stores. I had no idea what he was compensating for, but it was just something that had come to my attention.

"How about we stop in Seymour's? Haven't seen that guy in a while." My dad offered as he stopped in front of the old book store. I spotted Ezra fixing a few books on the shelves through the window and was reluctant to follow my father. He didn't listen to my apprehensive response but opened the door and held it open for me as he entered.

"Seymour!" He greeted as he saw the old man behind the counter. The two men embraced lightly, obviously catching the attention of Ezra as the book store looked stripped bare of any customers. His glance landed on mine and we stood awkwardly in place for a few seconds, our eyes locked. Finally, I diverted my eyes from his gaze as I felt a soft figure brush against my lower leg.

Sitting swishing it's tail below me was a jet black cat that looked nothing like the cat that I remembered years ago. I guess my previous predictions about the old tabby were true. I kneeled on the floor, giving the feline the rubs it was begging for as it stared at me with it's large green eyes. It purred graciously against my hand and I heard the tell tale chuckle of Seymour as he and my father watched me.

"Is that my little Aria all grown up?" The man asked, adjusting his glasses exaggeratively and raising his bushy grey eyebrows as if to get a better look. I stood up and sheepishly smiled as the man came around the counter to engulf me in a hug. "Look at you, old enough to start working here alongside me and Ezra." The uttering of his own name made Ezra turn around and lock eyes with me. I only felt like shrinking under his intense gaze.

"Yeah, maybe." I replied with a forced happy tone. I placed my focus back at the cat whom was pawing at my exposed legs for more attention. My dad spoke with Seymour for a little while and I couldn't help but sneak glances at Ezra. He seemed to be doing the same as he aimlessly pretended to fix books that obviously didn't need fixing. After doing what really didn't need to be done but he did it anyway, Ezra shoved his hands into his pockets and disappeared into the rows of book shelves.

The two men said there salutations and I walked out with my father, his hands still holding the cup of half eaten and half melted ice cream. He threw the cup into the nearest garbage and took my hand in his.

"Wasn't that fun?"

**I'm going to ****_try_**** and update this story every three or so days, but I've hit a sort of sucky writers block and nothing seems to be coming out of me. I already have up to chapter seven written and I know what happens after that but it's been hard to put those thoughts into words. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter and I want to know what you think is going to happen between Alison and Aria or Aria and Ezra. Let me know and please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

"You know, me and your mother once passed the Grateful Dead's vacation house while on a trip to Mexico." My dad explained as he held the steering wheel in front of him. We drove down the gravelly roads over to Dotty's, a coffee shop and diner that me and my dad used to go to when I was younger. Nowadays he was always talking about the past, things that he remembered he and my mom doing over the years. I don't know if the cancer was starting to effect his memory cause this was the second time he had told this story to me this week. I just didn't have the heart to call him out on it.

"Really? Were you planning to pass it?" I asked, obviously knowing the answer was no. He had been the one to introduce me to my passion of classic rock music and that included him showing me and Mike at a young age, his all time favorite band, The Grateful Dead. He basically knew everything there was to know about them, and he passed that information on to me.

"Nope, the tour guide told us that was it while we were on a small shuttle bus on the way to go snorkeling or something. I was honestly so thrilled to see it." He explained, parking the car when we pulled into the parking lot.

I noticed his already drastic decline in appetite since the day we stopped in at Seymour's. I think everyone in our family took notice. He wasn't eating as much at any meal or even wanting to have dessert if my mom ever brought it. I could see my mother beginning to grow worried and even more depressed than she was before. She was always very good at hiding her emotions like this and these past few years have only strengthened her ability. I still never understand how she does it and I know she won't be able to stand it when my dad actually goes. I know she'll be a wreck when she lets out all of the bottled up pain and emotional torture she had to endure over the years of him fighting for another day. And I knew I would struggle as well. Mike would too, even though like my mom, he's very good at hiding his feelings.

My dad greeted the waitress politely as she came over. He only ordered a plain bagel and a cup of coffee while I just got an omelette. He seemed to be disinterested in the food but took large sips of his coffee when it arrived. He was mainly focusing on telling me more stories about his travels with my mother.

"You wouldn't even believe how beautiful the water is in the gulf, Aria. It's like a crystal blue almost matching the sky on a clear day. And in some places you could see everything that lived in it if you were in shallow water. It was like rippling glass." He described. I could almost see glints of tears in his eyes as he relived the memories that would only exist as memories now. He would never be able to see that crystal blue water every again. Only seeing it in his recollections and whatever pictures he had somewhere.

There was a silence between us once he had finished talking. He pushed the barely touched bagel to the side and took another gulp of his black coffee, staring off at the many articles of memorabilia the diner had it's walls adorned in.

"So have you spoken to Ezra? He was always a nice boy, right?" My dad inquired, still not taking his eyes off of the wall in front of him. I couldn't help but wonder what it was he was thinking about. He even stopped drinking his coffee and laced his fingers, his eyes trained on the signed photo of Frank Sinatra.

"Yeah, he was. But... no I haven't." I lied sheepishly, shoveling around the eggs and vegetables on my plate. It's been a full week since I've arrived and I still haven't gathered up any courage to talk to Alison or Ezra despite my father's attempts to make me. I haven't spoken to Ezra since our run-in on the dock and that surely didn't come off as a good start for us. And Alison I haven't talked to since the beach, and honestly I didn't want to talk to her. The aura of mystery she always carried only seemed more prominent now that we were older and I was still confused on whether she was sarcastic when Ali said it was good to have me back.

He then began to talk about how I should try. He reminded me how good of friends the trio of us were despite the age difference between Ezra and the I. It wasn't that I needed reminding, I knew well enough how we all used to hit it off and have a grand old time all together. Ezra didn't seem to mind that we were three years younger than him when he was fourteen and we first met. He seemed to take a liking in Alison's boldness in talking to him and my estranged interests the same books he liked despite my age. I just didn't think that the part of us that we had that made us such great friends were there anymore. At young ages, there was just something about us that clicked. But we all changed and grew, it was just what I knew would happen. There was probably a reason why Alison and Ezra weren't friends anymore either, even though they were both here this summer as most likely the one before that. And I just believe that I'm all to blame for that.

* * *

As usual, I sat alone in my distastefully colored room, staring out the window or trying to think of something to do. The window next to my bed was open, cooling down the room a bit while also letting the torturous sounds of screaming and laughing that came from Alison's backyard in. Looking back at the two weeks, I've done absolutely nothing significant. Most teens would be spending the summer down in Miami or on the Jersey Shore, tanning it up with friends care-freely. But carefree would the exact opposite of a word I would use to describe my summer.

I finished Julius Caesar reluctantly since it was the only thing that seemed to keep me occupied throughout the week. Even though I wanted to count down the days until I'd be leaving this town, I'd also be counting down the days until the inevitable fate of my father. So I just pretended to not even care what day it was or not even glance at a calendar, even though I knew I was just deluding myself.

My mother constantly tried to push me and Mike out of the house for whatever reason. Mike was no problem since he'd just go to the beach or to the Fitz's. I was a different story. My mom had become more distant ever since we arrived to Lake Cheyenne and it scared me to no end, wondering what was happening behind the scenes.

While staring up at the ceiling did pass some time, it didn't make the most effective way to waste time. Eventually, a tentative knock at my door was heard. I just told whoever it was at the other side to come in, not taking my eyes away from the slanted white ceiling.

My mother entered the room, her hands put to her sides and her eyes down to her uncovered feet.

"How are you doing, Aria?" She asked, sitting down at the foot of my bed and rubbing my bent knee. A large sigh was my response to her intentionally vague question.

"Have you tried to talk to Alison or Ezra?" She asked again, trying to make some sort of conversation with me. The question burned inside of me. I could take it once or twice from my father. He was generally concerned for my condition after he passed and knew he wouldn't be there to take care of me and wipe my tears any longer. I could take Wesley asking, he just missed having me around Ezra and seeing his brother happy with me. But my mother, someone who hasn't talked to me on this trip other than to tell me to beat it. I didn't need people, especially her, to tell me that I needed to be around others to cope with this. While she was doing it alone in her locked room crying.

"No, I haven't." I commented snidely. I wondered how many times I'd have to say that before people understood that I didn't want to be friends with them, that I didn't need them.

My mom didn't say anything. So I did, as a question for her popped into my head. "Mom, what are we going to do when Dad's gone?" I sat up, wanting to see her face when she gave her answer. Her deft hands only fiddled with a few rings on her fingers, including the one I knew to be the one my father had given to her as their engagement ring.

"I don't know, sweetheart." She started to get up, trying to again run away from what she should be thinking about.

"No, Mom. What are we going to do? Surely your salary and our inheritance money alone isn't enough to support yourself and put me and Mike through college." My mother kept her back to me. Her labored breaths were audible and loud enough for me to pick up. "You know I'm going to college next year, right?"

"Of course I do. I just don't know, okay?" She stated, balling up her fists and continuing to not look at me.

"Haven't you thought about the future before, Mom? If Dad never lived through the surgeries or something. Didn't you have some sort of back up plan?" I got off the bed and stood in front of her. She was taller than me, though still being short. Our eyes met in a lock, her stern face holding in place as our gazes fought a silent battle.

"These past few years have been very difficult for me, Aria-"

"And you think they haven't been for me? How do you think it feels learning that I'm loosing my father? He's not going to be there when I graduate high school, or college. Or walk me down the aisle when I'm getting married, or hold his grandchildren when they are born. You're going to be the one taking care of us when he's gone, remember that." I forcefully grabbed the handle to my door and pulled it open, signaling for my now blubbering mother to get out.

It wasn't that I didn't care that she was crying. I did, I felt horrible for making her feel that way. She didn't deserve that. But I was just so furious that she hadn't taken the time to think about our well being. My father had received the bigger paycheck out of my parents and it was going to be difficult to support two kids and herself with just small salary. It just enraged me to find out she hadn't even thought about it a bit. That she couldn't take the time out of her crying to ponder about what she was going to do in the future. Just like my father, and probably all of us, she was just trying to hold on to the past.

**I sorta added a bit of my own personal touches to Byron's likes and personality because we really don't know a lot about him when it comes to other than his family. And I know this chapter was way overdue but I had a rough week especially yesterday cause it marked one full year my uncle has been gone from our lives and my family was all together and we went to church and out to lunch and I was very busy, I apologize. I also apologize because this chapter was very short and not one of my favorites but I promise that next chapter will be up sooner and will be better. Thank you for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

I never thought I would hate the fact that my brother was having fun, but I did that night. His room was just across from mine and I could hear the loud outburst of laughter from Mike and Wesley coming from inside my closed room. Wesley had nicely asked me to join them after seeing my hermit like attitude. But I declined, not wanting to be around the boy who was a spitting image of his brother at his age. Wesley was a nice kid, he really was. But just not the boy I wanted to be with that night. Especially with my brother around, who'd probably be asking questions about Ezra and teasing me about him.

The faint sounds of chirping crickets were heard from my still open window and the moonlight bled through the glass panes, filling the room with a bit of light.

The nights were always the worst for me. It was always the time of day that would most plague me about the unfriendly upcoming events. It was the time where I was trapped with my thoughts and nothing else for eight or more hours. Some nights were better than others when it came to the number of hours I had to get some shut eye, but tonight didn't seem like one of those nights that I'd wake up in the morning from and feel fresh and energized.

Counting sheep would render useless and I had nothing to read besides Julius Caesar which would bore me to tears for the second time rather than put me to sleep. I was in no mood to dig out To Kill A Mockingbird from the back of my haphazardly packed closet which left me with nothing else. I could still hear the cheers of my brother and Wesley as they did whatever it was they were doing in Mike's room, which didn't help my attempts in getting to sleep.

After a lot of tossing and turning. Along with groaning in utter frustration, I shot up from bed and grabbed a striped flannel from my floor and slid it over my body, remembering to button up the first few buttons. I was again in just my black sports bra and sleep shorts due to the heat that didn't seem to leave my room, even in the cool nights. And I cursed my mother for my inheritance of her naturally warm body temperature; that didn't help so much in the summer as it did in the winter.

I peeked out the door and checked both ways down the hallway as though I was going to cross a busy street. Both ways down the hall were pitch black due to the lack of windows and any other source of light. There was only a strip of light coming from Mike's closed door and the sound of the two boys' mindless chatter.

Quickly and stealthily, I tip-toed down the stairs and ran to the door in the front of the house. Checking behind me, the door slowly opened as I unlocked it and pulled it halfway ajar. Shoes were unnecessary as I made my way to my destination, walking on the rough gravel streets under the dim light of the moon and the randomly flickering street lights.

The sand became a feeling of heaven as my bare feet came in contact with the broken down pieces of things, all things. All beaches are graveyards, I always remember my dad saying. I never understood what it meant as a kid but his explanations became more clear as I grew older. No one really knows what sand used to be, but it takes a long time to make. Mountains and rocks that used to exist in the very places I was walking on or from far away broke down and became the tiny grains of sand that were currently sifting through my toes. It gave a sardonic feel to why my father wanted to spend his last days surrounded by beaches.

My uncovered feet then met the hard, damp wood of the dock that stretched out from the end of the beach to a few meters out in the lake. I padded over and sat on the very edge of the dock, staring down at the moon lit water that pushed out and pulled back in slowly, wetting the surrounding grains of sand. My head leaned against the wooden leg of the dock as the cooling breeze brushed along the uncovered parts of my body and waved through my hair. A rush of cold ran down my spine, making me shiver in bliss.

This place was truly beautiful, making me regret not tagging along my camera to capture the gorgeous moment. But for a moment, it didn't feel like anything in the world was wrong. It felt good to just stare into the distance, the dark blue sky, and just pretend that everything was going to be okay.

The lake was outstretched, it didn't seem to stop at any point. At least from where I could see, it looked like it stretched out forever. I could just make out the islands many miles away that were clouded by the fog that was forming so far from where I was sitting. I wished the moment I was living in would last forever. The feeling of euphoria and complete peace whisked me away from all of the troubles I knew I would have to handle and be under the weight of in the morning.

Some stomping noises were able to shatter my peaceful moment, giving me a sense of dread that someone was behind me and probably listening to me ramble on about random things to myself and laughing at nothing. I really did not want to look behind me, I just wanted to let the person, if there even was one, stand there or kidnap me or whatever they wanted to do, but I didn't want to know who it was. The footsteps came closer and I could feel who ever it was practically standing behind me, so I did turn around and instantly regretted it like last time. Standing proud and tall with his arms crossed along his chest was Ezra; none other than the last person I wanted to sit on the dock with.

"Is that all you ever wear?" He snarked, nodding to my apparel which was close to exactly what I wore the first time we bumped into each other the exact way we did now. He was wearing a large grey sweatshirt and basketball shorts. He looked tired as well.

"Hello to you too." I responded, turning my head back towards the water and ignoring him as he sat next to me. I scoffed as he sat down practically next to me even though there was a whole dock to take up.

"Can't sleep?" He asked, attempting to make conversation I assumed.

"Why do you care?" I shot back. He sighed, shifting his position on the slabs of wood and shuffling away from me a bit.

"I don't, just making conversation while we're both out here." Ezra weaved his fingers together and leaned his chin against his hands as he stared off into the water with me. Only the sounds of crickets and the lake water swishing was heard.

"If you must know, yes. I cannot sleep." I said, resting the side of my head against the wooden pole once more. I decided to button up the rest of the flannel seeing how Ezra found interest in my no longer flat chest the first time we ran into each other.

"May I ask why?" He whispered.

"You may not." I couldn't tell him. He'd probably forgive me immediately for what I did if I told him what keeps me up each night. He always had a soft heart but I didn't want his forgiveness out of pity. I wanted to earn it if anything.

He chortled in response, shaking his head. "I never remembered you being this smart mouthed, Aria." Ezra remarked. I was always relatively quiet around Ezra when I was younger. It was probably mostly due to the fact my infatuation with Ezra was borderline insane even though I never told anyone or showed it. Alison was the outspoken one out of the three of us and didn't seen to have a filter when it came to her words. Maybe it was just her flaming confidence that kept her afloat and well beloved in groups, but I never seemed to have inherited that trait from her, no matter how close we were.

"Well, things have changed." My head turned to face him and my eyes locked on his. His eyes that almost matched the color of the lake, a murky blue. The light of the bright moon illuminated his face, bringing out his features. Most noticeably being his growing stubble. I noticed then that he still did have that one curl that hung down by his forehead and just made me want to push it aside because it still annoyed me to no end.

It didn't register that I was staring at him until he started snapping his fingers in my face, breaking me out of my deranged haze. Ezra's face was now more serious as I slapped away his hand which was less than a few inches from me. We resumed our wordless positions staring out at the horizon and watching the cold water ripple and dance under the light of the full moon. Nothing really seemed to happen between us. I could hear his loud sighs every so often when he would shift his position. Sometimes bringing his thighs up to his chest or trying to dip his toes into the water.

"But why did you leave?" I could tell that the question had been nagging him but his voice stayed the same. Though the question was a change from his sardonic attitude before. I shook my head, hoping he wouldn't see. My eyes darted far away from him, I could see from the corner of my vision that he was staring a me. "I know the three of us were all in rough spots and not happy with each other, but what happened?"

I didn't want to think about that summer. I came into this town five ears ago expecting to have the best summer all over again. But came out too early swearing I'd never return. And I here I was, sitting after midnight on the same dock I'd always sit on with one person who I vowed to forget, even if I didn't want to. You can't really forget someone you already know.

I just wanted to wake up. How I wished this whole thing was some stupid dream I'd wake up from and shake off as the day went by. But this was all far too real to be a dream. I wouldn't be startled awake in a cold sweat and go to my parents room to find that my dad still had all of his years to live. That he would still be there when I graduated, got married, had kids, and for all those little mile stones that lied ahead for me. But he wouldn't. He would be passed, gone, dead. I wouldn't wake up and be able to tell my dad happened in my crazy nightmare and for him to just pat my shoulder and say it was all just a bad dream.

I stayed silent, I could feel the hot tears running down my chilled face. Cursing myself, I wiped my eyes of the evidence of my sadness, staining the sleeve of the flannel with the makeup I had forgotten to take off. My only prayer was that Ezra wouldn't crawl over to me and ask if I was okay. He wasn't helping at all and I wished he just left. I wished he just never even came to the dock.

The next thing I felt was soft fabric hitting my legs. I immediately jumped and nearly shoved the thing that landed on me in the water. But my hands had caught it and it registered to me that it was Ezra's sweatshirt. He was now in just a t shirt with Columbia University printed on it, which I assumed was the college he was attending.

"It was probably a bad idea just wearing a flannel and your bra out here, Aria." He stated, pointing again my skimpy attire. His face had fallen a bit from his lack of closure but he had thankfully dropped the subject. I just sniffled and blinked away tears, gripping the fabric hard as I tried to swallow the large lump that had formed in my throat.

It felt odd, but I slipped the warm sweatshirt over my head, moaning thankfully at the feeling of a blanket of heat. The smell surrounding the sweater was musky and like he had sprayed cologne on himself and went to the gym before leaving, but I like it. It was so big on me, I was able to tuck my knees underneath and cover my whole body it in. I could hear Ezra's thick chuckle as I flipped the hood over just my eyes and smiled in content.

After his laugh, things didn't seem so tense. I watched Ezra slowly lay down against the hard wood and rest the back of his head on his palms.

I was beginning to drift off. I guessed it was rearing two in the morning and my mind decided it was a good time to fall asleep. Fall asleep, on the dock, next to Ezra. Perfect. Well, I had no say in the matter as my eyelids grew heavy and my mind began to succumb to the feeling of exhaustion my body filled with over the sleepless night.

The last thing I remember seeing were the stars. The millions of tiny stars that littered the sky and lit the dark navy atmosphere. I fell asleep to the sound of the lake water washing up the sand and being pulled back in. To the sound of the small crickets chirping. To the sound of the almost silence surrounding us. To the false feeling of security and peace that sitting on the dock gave me.

**Are you happy with me now?! I saw the multiple reviews begging for more ezria and your comments have not gone unheard. What do you think will happen between Aria and Ezra? What do you think of him wanting to know why her family had left? Drop a review and let me know, they really do help when it comes to "Do I want to still write this or not?" because without them, I'd have no inspiration! So, let me know if you enjoyed the chapter or not and I'll be updating again soon!**


	7. Chapter 7

I had woken up the next morning startled that I was in my own bed. There was no possible way that last night was any dream. I had been awoken to the scent of masculine sweat and cologne. I has woken up to still be covered by Ezra's sweatshirt.

How I got home safe was beyond me. Did I sleep walk home? It'd be a miracle that I got in bed without a scratch and still in his sweatshirt. Ezra could not have carried me home, right? I mean, he could have, his arms are ripped, but would he?

I exited my room after throwing the sweatshirt off of my body and near my hamper. My face ran straight into Wesley's chest the moment I took a few steps out of my room, yawning exaggeratively. His eyes were narrowed a bit as he observed my disgruntled attitude and posture.

"Where were you last night?" He asked, his voice not hardened but surely kinda serious even though a small smirk graced his lips. It took me a moment to get oriented after my run in with his body and look at him in the eyes.

"Uh, in my room? Why?"

"Lies," Wesley whispered with the sly smile growing ever so larger on his face. "You were at my house. Ezra carried you up to your room with you in his sweatshirt. He was sweaty and his hair was mussed up." His arms crossed over his chest with his smirk growing ever so larger.

My eyes widened at what I realized his accusation was. I opened my mouth to protest but he winked and shushed me.

"Wesley, it's not wha-"

"Save it, Aria. You two be safe." He said, waving his hand to erase my words and turning back to go into Mike's room. I lunged to catch his elbow and explain about the dock and how I fell asleep in his sweatshirt, but he had locked the door when he slipped through the opening and shut the entry way to the room.

I was not in the mood to wake up my upset mother or my father who needed his sleep, so I left Wesley to his preposterous and far off assumptions about the relationship me and Ezra now had. Even I was still not in the mood to label the status him and I had.

As if my mother had cameras around the house, the moment I stepped down the last stair, she shot out of her room with two small pieces of paper clutched between her fingers. She placed them into my hands and sighed, not once looking me in the eyes.

"I need you to pick up your father's prescription and get some groceries." She ordered, crossing her arms and without another word or even a notion of thanks, closing the door. Not even another look did she give me before shutting the door rudely in my face. I suspected she was still steaming from the day before.

I didn't bother to clean myself up before heading to the grocers. Just swiping on some eyeliner and changing into actual jean shorts. I felt that the flannel was fine to wear outside in public and so didn't change my top. I disregarded brushing my probably knotty hair and instead tied it into a messy bun. It wasn't like anyone was really going to judge me for going out like this at ten in the morning.

Stuffing the small pieces of paper into my back pockets, I stepped out to my car and observed the streets, hoping to see no one. Thankfully, my prayers were heard and not one person or car was seen on the quiet road.

Driving to the store was oddly calming. I had instinctively switched on one of my father's playlists he always left in my car and listened to that. There was no one beside me, which I was glad and that meant I was alone with the lyrical geniuses who's music rattled the walls of my car and my own thoughts. But my own imagination wasn't as torturous and morbid now as it would be at night, which I was utmost grateful for.

Pulling into the mini mart that was the town's grocery store, I scanned my eyes down the list of things my mom needed and quickly passed my focus to the prescription my dad needed. He had more prescriptions to take a day than I could count on one hand. I didn't even attempt to figure out which one this was for.

I decided first to head to the pharmacy at the back, just to get it over with. I just slid the doctors note to the pharmacist, a young girl with long blonde hair tied up into a ponytail. The name tag stuck on her white lab coat read Charley. She gave me a sympathetic smile as she read over what kind of drug was needed and silently walked over to the many stocks of prescription drugs piled high on the racks. I shifted around nervously as I waited; playing with a loose tendril of hair that had fallen from my sloppily tied bun. I watched all of the other shop goers as I changed the weight I put on each foot.

"Here you go, that'll be $24.95," the girl said, passing the small white bottle with at least a months worth of pills in it. I fished around my purse for the correct amount of money and handed them to the girl. She handed me my change and met eyes with me again, giving me another empathetic smile. "Have a good day."

"You too," I mumbled as I grabbed bottle and pushed it down into the bottom of my pocket. Good day. Yeah, like this summer would be full of those. I then studied the shopping list again, groaning that this wasn't just a few little things like eggs and milk. Of course, she didn't even give me any money to buy the stuff with and I had to use my own, which was limited.

Grabbing a small red basket by one of the aisles, I started my search for more frozen personal pizzas that Mike had taken a liking to. I shoveled a few into the basket once I had found the frozen aisle and a few more necessities that were nearby.

It didn't take long for me to get everything, but it surely something I didn't want to be doing at this hour. Why couldn't my mom or even Mike do it instead? It wasn't like he was teetering off the edge of a mental breakdown or at any moment would collapse into a fit of sobs. He was having a grand old time with Wesley going to the lake and playing lacrosse together. I hadn't seen him once cry this whole trip.

"Aria?" I heard a chirpy voice say. I turned around and winced as I saw one of Alison's friends coming towards me. A tall ivory skinned brunette, I hadn't yet been able to match up the names to faces. Only remembering the three names that Alison had called out to send them running to her. "You were the girl that took our pictures on the beach, right?" She asked.

I paused, trying to figure out which one she was in the few second I had that wouldn't make things awkward.

"Yeah, I was...Emily?" I asked tentatively, scrunching up my face in uncertainty. She gave a smile and shook her head.

"Spencer," She said. I internally chastised myself for getting it wrong. It just made the situation more awkward.

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't able to put names to faces that day on the beach." I apologized, shifting my feet in anxiousness. I fiddled with the hem of my pocket holding the pills and tried to keep a friendly smile.

"It's fine." She shook her head and waved her hand as if the mishap was nothing, but I was still slightly embarrassed. "Ali's mentioned you before a few times. You two used to be pretty good friends, right?" Spencer asked. She looked like a very nice girl and all but she really have to make this conversation longer?

"Yeah, used to." I clarified, trying to hold back a sigh. I tried to think of someway I could escape from this incredibly awkward situation. I didn't even know this girl and she questioning my relationship was Ali. Like my debatable status with Ezra, I had no idea where I stood in Ali's life or where she stood in mine.

"Well you should hang out with us sometime. You seem like a really sweet girl and you already know the DiLaurentis'." Spencer chirped, her perfectly white smile growing larger. I wanted to decline, or just run away and buy everything later. But I didn't, there was just something so tempting about the offer of getting back where I used to be with Alison. But I knew eventually she would have to find out about my dad if I did, and she was the last person I needed sympathy from.

"Maybe." I responded. We chatted a little more and she talked about how she and the other girls were only there till the end of the month. After what felt like torturous hours, she went back to whatever she was shopping for and left me to high tail it out of the store as soon as I could.

It would be a lie if I were to tell someone I didn't contemplate Spencer's offer. It was tempting to have the open opportunity to right some of the wrongs I had made last time we saw each other. Maybe it would make the summer a little bit less unbearable if I had my old best friend there for me; to catch me when I fell. Alison may not have been the most sympathetic person, but she sure knew how to distract someone and make them feel better through her quick humor.

"Byron, have to eat something," My mother pleaded as she looked at Byron's barely touched plate of corn and steak. He pushed a few buttered kernels around his plate in response and sighed. I tried not to focus on how rapidly he was loosing weight, how his shirts now looked sorta baggy like if I was wearing them.

"I'm not all that hungry tonight, Ella." He said, picking at a piece of steak and grudgingly chewing on it after seeing all of our concerned stares. I wasn't feeling all up to eating either. Though I had finished half of the salad I had on my plate and some corn.

"Aria, you have to eat too." My mom scolded more harshly towards me, pointing her fork towards the plate which still had a good amount of food on it. I wanted to scoff at how childish she was being after our little scuffle about the future. I understood it was a touchy subject but it didn't mean I didn't deserve answers for things that were bugging me. She wasn't the only one suffering.

But I followed her orders, stabbing at some of my salad dramatically and shoving the speared pieces into my mouth, barely breaking eye contact. If she was going to be immature, so was I.

There was a tense silence between all of us. Mike had been the only who had cleared his plate and noticed the seething glares me and our mom were sharing. "Does anyone want the rest of the steak?" He asked nervously, attempting to break the tension. Thankfully my mother pulled away from our stare down and looked at Mike, allowing me to jump from my chair and hastily put my dish in the sink before escaping to my room.

I ignored her as she called me back to sit down and wait for the rest of the family to finish. I didn't wait, the angry slam of my door was my only answer to her incessant yells.

If this was how the rest of my summer was going to be, full of silent battles with my mother and with everyone around us being oblivious, then so be it.

**This chapter wasn't one of my favorites but it's kinda because I've been in sorta a slump when it comes to this story. I haven't had the inspiration to write for ****_weeks_****. I pre-planned and pre-wrote all of the chapters up to this one and I fell flat when it came to here. I thought I would have inspiration to keep writing the chapters so they would be on time but they haven't been and I've just been putting it all off. I used to be so excited to write this story because it seemed like one you all would like but I'm not so sure anymore.**

**Another thing that needs to be addressed is ****_the ezria in the story and how it plays a part. _****Ezra will become a character we see more of but right now he's just someone Aria's trying to put aside because of the main story line, Byron dying. They have to warm up to each other again because she didn't both him and Ali on good note. I promise you, if you be patient, it will be worth it. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

I don't know who's plan this was more, my mother's to get me out of the house or my father's to also get me out of the house, but I wasn't exactly liking it. As much as I loved the old man working the book store, I wasn't too chummy with the person working beside him.

"Aria, guess what?" My father said as he walked into the kitchen. I was just tiredly loading my used cereal bowl into the dish washer as he strolled in, thinner than the day before.

I tried to put as much cheeriness as I could into my voice without I sounding forced. "What is it?" I asked, turning around and pressing my hip against the washer.

"I got you the job at Seymour's! It actually wasn't hard to do at all but now you have something to do over the summer." He responded, a bright smile grew over his yellowing face. My heart dropped. No he didn't, this is a joke. In a moment he's gonna point his finger at me and say "gotcha!". But be never did. He just stood there waiting for a response.

"Wow, thanks Dad. How soon does he want me down there?" I prayed to the high heavens I wasn't working the same hours as Ezra, but I knew that because he was probably the only worker besides me now, we would be seeing a lot of each other.

"He said twelve, or whenever you can get around to the place." My eyes went to the electric clock that was over the oven. I had about half an hour to get dressed and get to the store if I didn't want to disappoint my dad.

"I'll get there as soon as possible." I said, trying to keep the horror out of my expression as my feet took me as fast as they could go to my room.

Xxxx

My hands cautiously pushed open the door to the old book store, causing the bell above to jingle. The sound ricocheted around the empty place, prompting me to want to bolt. But the sound of an deep chuckle drew me in closer as I saw the elderly man appear from the back room.

"Aria!" He called out, his bellowing voice filling the room. I jumped a bit as Ezra's head swung over from behind a book shelf and his eyes hardened. "So glad you were able to make it. I have your apron right here." Seymour announced. He pulled a tan apron from a small cabinet and handed it to me with a smirk. "You can start over with Ezra stocking up the shelves with new books. He knows which ones need to be taken out." I glanced over at Ezra, who was filling the wooden shelves with the books piled in his arms. I merely nodded and walked over to him, my arms crossed and my eyes looking elsewhere.

"Here." Ezra said, barely tearing his eyes away from the large brown shelves. He loaded a bunch of the books from his arms into mine. "Just fill the shelves, okay?" He pointed to the spots where there wasn't any books and the planks of wood holding them up were bare. He didn't say a word directly to me after that. I just felt his gaze drilling holes into the back of my head as I stood beside him, filling the unoccupied spaces with a new book.

As I slid the last novel slowly into the empty space, Ezra was long gone by other rows of bookcases by the time I had half of them done. I had also felt a furry being brush against my legs which required a much needed shave. The black cat that had taken a liking to me last time I was here sat in front of me, it's tail swishing back and forth and it's yellowish eyes staring up at me. A grin threatened to appear as I kneeled down and allowed the small animal to climb into my lap and rub it's body all over my clothes.

After picking the feline up and holding it in my arms as I surveyed the rest of the store to find where Ezra had disappeared to, Seymour appeared from the back room, laughing as he saw the cat comfortably laying in my arms. "That cat really seems to like you, huh? He freaks Ezra out for some reason. That boy always tries to stay as far away from him as possible." He explained, patting the cat's soft head. "I'm going to run out for a quick lunch, you kids think you'll be able to handle the store?" Seymour asked, peering around the array of shelves to find his other worker.

"I think we'll be okay on our own." I remarked, following his gaze to behind a few bookshelves. The feline meowed and pawed at a tendril of hair that had fallen from the messy bun I had gathered my hair into. Seymour nodded and patted my shoulder, saying he'd be back shortly.

I placed the cat gently down on the floor and watched as it padded away before trying to find Ezra. I loved the old book store but seeing to so empty and quiet irked me. After maneuvering through rows of shelves, I found him with his shoulder leaned against a bookcase and his eyes trained on the pages of a book which he held in his hands. He didn't seem to notice me when I poked my head out from behind and tried to get a better look at what he was reading. A few questions I had for him burned in the back of my mind but I was not sure if I was in the mood to actually ask them.

"Ezra?" I murmured, grasping the edge of the wood and stepping out from behind. Ezra's head snapped up from his book and he blushed slightly as he placed the novel aside. He straightened up his body, making himself even more tall than when he was slouched against the case.

"Do you need anything?" He asked blandly. I could sense the hostility in his voice and back tracked. Did the night at the dock mean nothing? Not that it changed anything for me but he seemed a bit kinder that night.

"N-no. I just wanted to ask you something." I said, standing up a bit straighter as well. He didn't respond verbally, just looked up at me and crossed his arms. His eyebrows raised as he waited for me to continue. "The night on the dock. I know I fell asleep but how did I-"

"I carried you home." I had to hear it from his mouth. Not that I didn't take Wesley's word for it when he told me the day before, but hearing it from Ezra was an entirely different story. He had held me in his arms and carried me to my house, up the stairs seemingly undetected, and tucked me into bed while still wearing his sweatshirt.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Wes said he saw you from Mike's room. He took it as something else." I responded, glancing at a few books next to me and trying to hide the blush on my cheeks at the thought of what Wesley thought we were up to. From the corner or my eye I saw Ezra's eyebrows furrow and his his eyes scrunch up in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Wes saw you carrying me into my room while I was asleep and assumed I snuck over to your place and we..." My voice trailed off, not wanting to actually continue that sentence. It took Ezra a moment to realize what I meant and groaned.

"That was why he kept giving me looks when he got home." He mumbled, shaking his head. I just nodded awkwardly, shifting weight from foot to foot and glancing around the store until one of us said something. I saw Ezra backing away slowly from me from the corner of my eye and looked at him strangely. I realized he was staring down at the floor and followed his eyes to the black cat which stood at my feet. It purred and rubbed against my bare legs, prompting me to pick it up with a small smirk and walk towards Ezra, who in return gave me a look of terror.

"Why are you so afraid of a little kitty?" I phrased teasingly, scratching behind the animals ear. Ezra didn't stop giving the cat wary looks before he pointed to the thing.

"It bites, hard. I'm pretty sure I have a scar from that brat." He stuck out his arm where there was scabbed over marks all around. "That thing hates me."

I just rolled my eyes and stuck the cat out further towards Ezra, making him flinch and step away. "Aria, I'm warning you..." He told me. His back hit the wall behind him and it only made me walk closer with the feline outstretched in front of me. Finally after moments of torture for him, I dropped the animal and watched as it just walked away.

"Scaredy-cat." I joked, crossing my arms over my chest. Ezra just scoffed and shook his head. "If that thing bit you as many times as it bit me, you'd avoid it as well." He said, a hint of a smile appearing on his face as he nudged my shoulder while walking away. I looked back at him as he walked to the front of the store when a customer had come into the shop. I couldn't help but notice a weight lifted off of me after that moment. Things seemed to be just a little bit more normal between me and him, even if it lasted just a few seconds.

xxxxx

I untied the apron from around my neck and let it fall to the ground. I quickly folded it and placed it on the counter near the cash register and watched as Ezra came from around a shelf, most likely ready to do the same. He gave me a smile and shook his head again at the memory of before, when he acted like such a baby. We both called out to Seymour as we left, and in return we got a goodbye hug from the always cheerful old man and a reminder to be back at the shop before noon. As both of us walked out of the shop. Ezra unlocked his car and I looked over at the setting sun, trying to determine whether or not I'd be able to get home before it fully sets.

"Aria," Ezra said, looking around the empty parking lot. "Did you not drive here?"

I looked down at the concrete sidewalk we stood on and shook my head. "No, I didn't know how late we'd be working and I wanted to walk here." Ezra just looked at his car and then back to me, silently thinking before speaking up again.

"Do you... do you want a ride? Your house is just on the way to mine, It wouldn't be a problem." He offered, pointing to his very expensive looking car. Well, as if anyone would expect anything less than top quality from the Fitzgerald's. A sigh escaped my lips before nodding, walking with him to his vehicle and slipping into the passenger's seat as he did the driver's. The car ride was silent and very awkward for the both of us as we drove down the street that contained both of our houses. Once he pulled up to mine and flashed a quick smile, I mumbled a quick goodbye before running up to my front steps. He was already far down the road by the time I looked back.

**I'm sorry if there's any mistakes in this. I ****_really _****did not feel like editing. I won't be posting at all next week because I'm going away on vacation and won't be back until next Saturday! So what did you think of this chapter and the little bit of ezria I decided to add. You all said that Aria was going to work at the book store so I incorporated that a bit as well. **

**Reviews are always appreciate! :) **


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